Apple today began shipping its Apple TV device to customers. The Apple TV was originally scheduled to ship to customers in February, but was delayed for unknown reasons. The Apple TV is designed to connect to a digital television and wirelessly stream music, videos and photos stored on a computer running Apple's iTunes software. The device has a 40-gigabyte hard drive and can store up to 50 hours of video. The Apple TV is priced at US$299, and is shipping in three to five days from the Apple Store.

I hope Apple posts the Apple TV user's manual soon, because I'm anxious to learn more about how this thing works and operates..

Yeah, I would like to read things over and get a jump-start before mine arrives. I don't imagine it will be hard to set up, but I always like to read the manual to avoid those RTFM situations. _________________1.25GHz Mac Mini / 1.8GHz iMac G5 / 2.0GHz C2D Mac mini (2009)
4GB iPod mini / 2G iPod shuffle / 16GB iPhone 3G
Apple TV 2
iLife's a Bitch!

1.) How much electricity does it use when its there idling? I know the thing could be syncing w/ my computer but i'm interested in when its not doing anything.

That's a good question. It has a built-in 48-watt universal power supply, but that doesn't tell you what it does in a sleep type mode. It will be interesting to see how you set it up to check for new content and how it sleeps. I wonder if you'll be able to put it to sleep with the Apple remote?

Crazibri wrote:

2.) How does iTunes gather photos or does it? I'm curious to know how apple tv gets the photos.?

I would assume the same method as getting pictures from iPhoto on to your iPod in iTunes. The Apple TV is basically going to show up like an iPod in iTunes.

I'm on the fence when it comes to the Apple TV. I think it would be cool to have one since I use my Mac mini primarily for everyday computing. It would let me extend my media to a larger screen. It's not like I really like watching movies and TV shows on a 20" display. That said, I think the Apple TV just costs too much. It would have been more attractive under $200.

According to Mossberg's review, the Apple TV works only on TVs that can handle widescreen-content (either widescreen TVs or those with vertical-compression). CNET reports it as EDTV and HDTVs only. But how often are they right? _________________

According to Mossberg's review, the Apple TV works only on TVs that can handle widescreen-content (either widescreen TVs or those with vertical-compression). CNET reports it as EDTV and HDTVs only. But how often are they right?

Walt Mossberg always seems like he is in the back pocket of Steve Jobs. It's funny how he is the first one to review the Apple TV. So I tend to take his personal views on Apple products with a grain of salt. He also doesn't seem like the smartest technical guy out there. Although, he might just be dumbing it down for his readers.